WHY THE CHURCH IS AN ESSENTIAL PARTNER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE WORLD’S POOREST COMMUNITIES IN THE A report from Tearfund THICK OF IT

www.tearfund.org 100 Church Road, Teddington, TW11 8QE Challenge House, 29 Canal Street, Glasgow G4 0AD Tyv Catherine, Capel Cildwrn, Llangefni, Ynys Môn LL77 7NN Rose House, 2 Derryvolgie Avenue, Belfast BT9 6FL [email protected] 0845 355 8355 Registered Charity No. 265464 (England and Wales) Registered Charity No. SC037624 (Scotland) www.tearfund.ie Tearfund Ireland, Ulysses House, 22-24 Foley Street, Dublin 1 [email protected] 01 497 5285 Registered Charity No. CHY 8600

Cover photo: Marcus Perkins/Tearfund Back page photos: Geoff Crawford/Tearfund and Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund

19271-(0709) BE PART OF A MIRACLE IN THE THICK OF IT: ENDORSEMENTS FOR INTHETHICK OF IT why the church is an essential partner for sustainable development in the world’s poorest communities

July 2009 ‘The church is on the frontline of efforts to tackle poverty: it is at the heart of poor communities Author: Seren Boyd and shares in their suffering. Pastors and congregations are making a real difference as they roll their sleeves up, get their hands dirty, offer support and bring communities together. In many Key Tearfund contributors: Paul Brigham, Keith Ewing, Philippa Newis, Tulo Raistrick contexts only the church can reach the poorest in this way. And the church could do so much more. With grateful thanks to Tearfund staff and partners The church as a whole needs to wake up to its God-given mandate and potential to tackle poverty – at home and overseas. In the thick of it is an important message for now – and one which I hope Main sources: governments and donors will heed.’ African Religious Health Assets Programme BBC Community Development Foundation DFID THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, DR JOHN SENTAMU Glasgow Churches Action Global Health Council Gweini IMF Micah Challenge Oxford Centre for Mission Studies ‘This report comes at an important moment in our history: we could achieve something significant UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development United Nations Development Programme if we scaled up our efforts and got really serious about achieving the Millennium Development World Bank World Health Organization Goals. We must not let this opportunity slip through our fingers. The international community is slowly realising all that the church has been doing to end poverty – but it’s time they acknowledged the full story and supported the church in its vital work. The church as an institution We are a Christian relief and development agency building a global network of local churches to help has unparalleled presence at the grassroots level, a presence which can meaningfully impact efforts eradicate poverty. to end poverty. We can achieve more, faster, if we all work together. The simple truth is that we And so our ten-year vision is to see 50 million people released from material and spiritual poverty can’t afford not to.’ through a worldwide network of 100,000 local churches. ARCHBISHOP NJONGO NDUNGANE, PRESIDENT OF AFRICAN MONITOR

Media contact: Katie Harrison ‘In the thick of it presents a compelling account of how the church is enriching contemporary [email protected] understandings of development and is at the forefront of transforming some of the world's poorest 020 8943 7986 communities. The report reminds us that love of God and neighbour demands social and political 07949 181414 action, and it challenges both governments and the church to engage with each other to make this love real.’ PAUL WOOLLEY, DIRECTOR, THEOS, LONDON, UK www.tearfund.org 100 Church Road, Teddington TW11 8QE Challenge House, 29 Canal Street, Glasgow G4 0AD Ty Catherine, Capel Cildwrn, Llangefni, Ynys Môn LL77 7NN ‘In many places, Christians constitute the only credible civil society organisations. Wherever they Rose House, 2 Derryvolgie Avenue, Belfast BT9 6FL have focused on both the physical and spiritual needs of people, they have succeeded in transforming local communities for the better. This should come as no surprise, given that the church is supposed to be salt and light in society, preventing moral and social decay, and revealing www.tearfund.ie a better, more fulfilling way to live. In the thick of it reminds us that sustainable living is not merely Tearfund Ireland, Ulysses House, 22-24 Foley Street, Dublin 1 an environmental issue but is essentially a relational one, and that sustainable development is not an economic question but one of healthy social, political, economic and personal relationships – of “individuals coming together as a community”.’ © Tearfund 2009 DR JOHN HAYWARD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JUBILEE CENTRE, CAMBRIDGE, UK Front cover photo: Marcus Perkins/Tearfund

1 CONTENTS

Executive summary ...... 4

Recommendations ...... 6

Introduction: the urgency of now ...... 7

1: the church in wide angle ...... 8

2: distinctive strengths of the local church ...... 12

3: local church on the front line ...... 17

HIV ...... 17

environmental sustainability ...... 19

water, sanitation and hygiene ...... 20

advocacy ...... 22

gender ...... 24

4: developing the local church’s potential ...... 25

5: why partnership is the way forward ...... 27

6: the building blocks of partnership ...... 31

2 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

IN BRIEF dependency. In many nations the local church is one of The Churches Health Association of the few credible civil society groups capable of making Zambia provides nearly a third of the this happen. Christianity’s distinctive focus on building The church is delivering truly sustainable development at the heart of the world’s relationships and being inclusive is central to this task. nation’s healthcare poorest communities – by tackling material and spiritual poverty. In some regions it is The church is more than capable of professional and The Kale Heywet Church is helping the only institution able to do so. That makes the church an essential partner for effective service delivery and reaching high numbers of 100,000 Ethiopians lift themselves out governments and donors serious about scaling up efforts to reach the Millennium beneficiaries (see box right). And, particularly when the of poverty with self-help groups Development Goals. It’s time they acknowledged that faith and development are whole church network is engaged, it can have a huge impact with limited resources – a significant consideration inextricably linked in much of the developing world. It’s time to translate debate about Ten staff at a Tearfund partner for donors in the current economic climate. organisation in Zimbabwe have working with faith groups into active partnership. And it’s time for the church in the The church is not, however, just another NGO: its facilitated the training of 3,000 West to realise fully its role and potential in tackling poverty at home and overseas. distinctive strengths can make a vital difference in key volunteers caring for 78,000 orphans areas of development at local level. For example: In Wales, 42,000 volunteers from faith - HIV – in Africa especially, churches’ influence and A dramatic untold story is unfolding in some of the national health services. And its influence is such that it leadership are helping to break down stigma groups clock up 80,000 hours’ poorest places on our planet. Here, at the heart of HIV can mobilise hundreds of thousands of people worldwide community service a week; 98% of epidemics, at the epicentre of disasters, the church is to lobby on issues such as climate change and - Water and sanitation – churches bring sanitation and groups are Christian bringing transformation to some of the most vulnerable international debt relief. hygiene to areas unreached by the state and remote communities on earth – sometimes - Environmental sustainability – churches’ long reach singlehandedly. Often the church is reaching these places And yet much of the church’s work remains hidden and is helping even the poorest become less vulnerable to in a way that other institutions do not – and cannot. Its undocumented. Outside communities where it has a disasters long reach and presence extends even into war zones, presence, its work at the grassroots is virtually invisible. Tearfund has worked with and through churches from refugee camps and mountain hamlets. Crucially, it is - Advocacy – the church is one of the few agencies able across the denominations for 40 years. We believe that tackling poor people’s material and spiritual poverty to to disseminate information from the grassroots in the church’s greatest potential lies in local congregations bring development that is truly sustainable. countries such as Zimbabwe rooted in the local community and culture. We are already past the midpoint in the race towards the - Gender equity – local churches’ deep roots in local The local church is the poor – its members share in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – and at the culture mean they are often uniquely placed to tackle suffering. As the hub of many communities, it endures current rate of progress we will fail on many counts, discrimination particularly in the poorest regions. We need to scale up even when other community structures collapse, our efforts and make sure that aid works harder where outstaying even the most dogged NGO. And it has vast The church at home and abroad needs help to build its poverty hurts most. reserves of motivated volunteers keen to respond to the capacity and potential, through envisioning, training and, needs around them. sometimes, confronting its weaknesses. But Tearfund is Governments and international donors say they are convinced of the church’s potential and committed to Crucially, its root-and-branch approach to tackling serious about the MDGs. So they need to recognise that, this process. in many nations, the church is an essential partner in poverty means it meets poor people’s physical needs and delivering development that is truly sustainable. Often offers spiritual support to restore their self-esteem, their For too long, the church has tended to work in parallel, it provides the basic services which the state should dignity, their hope. Tearfund is a signatory to the not in partnership, with state and other secular actors – rightfully provide. It’s high time governments and donors International Red Cross Code of Conduct, so this is not with little external funding or support. This must change. translated debate about working more closely with faith about proselytising. It is about recognising that people The church is one of the few institutions that can bridge groups into active partnerships. living in poverty are also spiritual beings – and that faith the gap between the poorest communities and broader and development are often intricately linked in the development efforts. It is therefore a vital partner in A vital first step is acknowledging the scale of the church’s developing world. ensuring aid gets to where poverty hits hardest. involvement. The church is one of the few movements which are both global and local. Through its larger Tearfund believes that truly sustainable development Closer collaboration begins with mutual recognition, trust organisational structures, it is robust enough to support relies on individuals coming together as a community to and respect for difference. We hope this report will spur find solutions to their problems and shake off on the debate and galvanise action.

4 5 RECOMMENDATIONS INTRODUCTION: THE URGENCY OF NOW

Governments and international donors The church in the West should recognise its The countdown has begun: we are now past the midpoint In this report, Tearfund sets out the church’s credentials in the race to reach the Millennium Development Goals serious about achieving the MDGs should role and potential to help bring root-and- as an essential partner for delivering truly sustainable (MDGs) and time is running out. Some Goals are almost development in country after country. In fact, in many actively engage in partnership with the branch transformation to poor within our grasp – ‘economically and technically regions, it is the only institution able to do so. church. They should: communities, both at home and overseas. achievable,’ the analysts say. Many others are hopelessly off track. Tearfund urges policymakers and donors to take a fresh - act upon the significant evidence base that faith and It should: look at the current impact of the church and its future This is a crucial moment in history. The Goals have potential – and reconsider. Now is the time to translate development are inextricably linked in much of the - speak up, through advocacy, for the needs and rights captured the political imagination and summoned debate about closer collaboration into active partnership. developing world, including the importance of of the poorest communities – recognising its biblical unprecedented political will to make them a reality. ensuring that poor people’s practical and spiritual mandate to do so needs are met as part of a truly sustainable model of Significant progress has been made in some sectors. But development - make a stronger case for closer collaboration with we must accelerate the current rate of progress. Aid is not governments and donors by mapping and scoping the working as efficiently as it could: current development - support governments and civil society to ensure that extent of its development work worldwide, especially models are falling short. church-based organisations are included at national in sectors other than health. It should explore creative We must involve new players in a global partnership to level decision-making and policy forums ways to measure its effectiveness in terms that donors tackle extreme poverty. And chief among these players and governments can relate to - harness the unique position of the church-based should be the poorest people, those hardest hit by soaring organisations to ensure people in poor communities - take decisive steps to address its own weaknesses, food prices, climate change and HIV – the very people have a greater say about decisions that impact their including unhelpful attitudes and beliefs which have often overlooked in aid and development planning. livelihoods and wellbeing sometimes undermined broader development efforts This report presents an alternative development model – - pioneer a more flexible approach in the requirements - strengthen links between the different parts of the the work of the church, a dramatic untold story which is ‘The church… made of church-based organisations in return for global church network, particularly to support the unfolding across the world. It shows how the church as a does not drive in to places funding. Partnerships should strengthen, rather than local church in the developing world. Different streams whole is redefining poverty and sustainable development of strife in the morning and leave compromise, the distinctive added value of either party of the church should also be open to learning from – and how the local church particularly is transforming before the lights go down. The church the poorest communities from the inside out. - develop organisation-wide strategies for engaging each other’s experience of working in sustainable remains as part of the community, development. The same should apply to any with the faith groups and support staff to become For 40 years now, Tearfund has worked with and through and where there is hurt, the church collaboration with secular agencies ‘faith-confident’ in order to be more effective in evangelical churches, a vast network which is both local shares that hurt, is part of it and their roles and global. This network extends from international is hence uniquely placed to be advocacy movements pushing for multi-billion-pound aid part of the solution.’ - build on the work of the health sector by exploring packages, through denominational structures covering closer collaboration between faith groups and secular thousands of churches, to tiny congregations in refugee Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, players in other sectors. The health sector has set a camps and remote rural hamlets. Westminster Central Hall, London, strong and positive precedent with recent research 11 September 2008 on this theme by the World Health Organisation The church’s work has largely been independent of the state. But now is the time for working in partnership, not in parallel.

In a world where religion is increasingly politicised, donors and policymakers have been wary of engaging with the church and other faith groups. But now, slowly, donors and policymakers are beginning to recognise the huge and distinctive contribution that faith groups can make to development. Tearfund acknowledges the important work of other faith groups (see page 24) but its long experience and expertise lie in working with the church.

6 7 1: THE CHURCH IN WIDE ANGLE

International development forums all agree: to have a greater impact on the poorest On state business Snapshot: Ethiopia – drug supply logistics

communities, we need to make aid work harder, we need to scale up current efforts and we From missionaries’ earliest literacy drives, the church has The Ethiopian government has mandated the Kale need a more coordinated, cohesive approach. The ‘global partnership’ embodied in Goal 8 of long been at the forefront of development. Today, in many Heywet Church, a Tearfund partner and large the MDGs includes a target for involving different players in a collaborative effort – from developing nations, the church has plugged the gap when denomination, to provide PPTCT (preventing parent- ailing state administrations are unable to provide basic to-child transmission of HIV) services throughout civil society groups to government institutions. The church, through its larger organisations, services. In fact, the weaker government structures are, Addis Ababa. This involves training healthcare is already a major provider of services and social infrastructure in much of the developing the stronger the church’s involvement tends to be. Often, providers as well as supplying antiretroviral drugs world. Its work in education and healthcare at national level is recognised by donors and church-run health clinics are people’s only chance of (ARVs) and testing kits to government-owned facilities. By 2007, Kale Heywet was supplying 50 out governments – although it is not more widely known. In fact, the church is involved in healthcare in rural locations, post-conflict scenarios or areas of political instability. 3 So, in parts of the of 171 PPTCT sites nationally, some in remote areas almost every aspect of development. Yet much of its work remains hidden. Democratic Republic of Congo, the church is one of the not reached by state services. few formal institutions to have survived the civil war – Making the MDGs happen This will take huge injections of additional aid – an extra and to be able to respond in the current crisis. Although $18 billion a year in overseas development aid, according Tearfund believes it is the job of the state, not the church, 2 There has been substantial overall progress on the MDGs, to the UN’s MDG Gap Task Force. Wealthy nations will to provide these services, it recognises that the church d n u f and much of the globe will see extreme poverty halved by will, of necessity, plug this gap for decades to come. r need to honour previous commitments on aid, debt relief, a e T / l 2015. But most countries in sub-Saharan Africa will fail to trade and development. Bold talk of ‘alignment’ and l a

Hard statistical evidence of the extent of the church’s t n

meet most MDGs at current rates of progress and some ‘partnership’ in statements such as the Accra Agenda for e B

response is hard to come by. Mapping and scoping r

targets (such as sanitation) will take decades to achieve in o

Action must translate into effective aid reform. Crucially, n exercises are a relatively recent initiative and tend to a 1 e l

the region. There is a huge amount of political credibility aid must get to where it is most needed, to the slums E :

focus only on facility-based FBOs (faith-based o t

riding on achieving the Goals – and significant political decimated by diarrhoea, the remote villages ravaged by o h

organisations – not just Christian ones) providing P will to do so. It is also widely recognised that more could drought. And civil society must be involved in decision- healthcare in Africa. 4 There is, however, broad consensus be achieved if current efforts were given greater impetus. making and actively engaged in development. that faith groups generally provide: As for documenting the work of the church Tearfund believes that the church has a crucial role to play - up to 70 per cent of health services in some African specifically, again the only statistical evidence in scaling up current efforts and ensuring that aid gets to countries 5 available relates to healthcare and specifically to large where it is most needed. Indeed, the church is already a Christian organisations, usually denominational ‘If you major player in the development sector but most of its - almost 90 per cent of primary education in Lesotho, coordinating bodies representing thousands of want to deliver the work is unrecognised and underfunded. Recognising the 80 per cent in the DR Congo and 70 per cent in churches, or established NGOs operating Millennium Development scope of the church’s current involvement is a crucial first Sierra Leone 6 at national level. So, for example, the Churches Health step towards closer collaboration and a more coordinated Association of Zambia, a network of church-owned Goals, then in Africa you have - drug supply systems which cover on average 43 per cent response to poverty reduction. hospitals and health centres, provides nearly a third of no option but to work with and of the population in ten sub-Saharan African countries 7 Zambia’s healthcare as a whole and half of its rural through the churches, as they are healthcare. 9 And the Christian Health Association of the most universal and the most In regions like Southern Africa, where more than 80 per cent of the population consider themselves Christian, 8 Christian Lesotho provides 40 per cent of Lesotho’s health credible civil society organisations.’ organisations can be assumed to make up a high proportion service through its eight Christian hospitals and 79 health centres. 10 Scoping surveys reveal that church- Archbishop of Canterbury, of these faith groups. While the church’s development work based organisations are engaged in a wide range of Dr Rowan Williams, is more established in Africa, it is also a major player in Latin services: from drug supply (see box above) to the BBC World Service, America and Asia. In India, for example, the Catholic church training of healthcare workers. Beyond this visible March 2007 is the single largest organisational network providing care for people affected by HIV. infrastructure, though, the work of the church is less easy to quantify.

1 World Bank/IMF (2008) Global Monitoring Report. www.worldbank.org/gmr2008 3 ARHAP (2008) The contribution of religious entities to health in sub-Saharan Africa. ARHAP for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. ARHAP, Cape Town. 2 UN (2008) Delivering on the global partnership for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, The MDG Gap Task Force Report 2008, New York. 4 Ibid. http://www.un.org/esa/policy/mdggap/ 5 Ibid. FBO coverage is uneven across Africa. For example, West African francophone areas of sub-Saharan Africa have few FBOs; countries in Southern Africa (eg Zambia) have a rich variety. Facilities range from formal facility-based services to small-scale activities involving traditional medicine. 6 Speech by International Development Minister Shriti Vadera at Education for All event on the Hill, Washington D.C. October 2007. For text go to www.dfid.gov.uk 7 WHO/Geneva Global (2008) Building from common foundations: the World Health Organization and faith-based organizations in primary healthcare. WHO, Geneva. 8 Taylor, N (2007) DFID, faith and AIDS: a review for the update of Taking action. A desk review for the Faith Working Group of the UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development, London. 9 http://www.chazhealth.org/ 8 10 http://www.health.gov.ls/partners/partners_service.php#CHAL 9 Broader focus Christian FBOs have often filled gaps in state provision Chain reaction FAITH AUDIT IN THE UK AND IRELAND such as support for bereaved people. But they have also While some sectors of the church have remained focused been pioneering in social action on behalf of poor people. A key distinctive of the church is the fact that it is both Like many faith groups, churches in on the spiritual nourishment of their congregations, many Sometimes they are the first groups to reach out to the international and local – a vast network extending from the UK and Ireland make a huge others have also been involved in relief and development most marginalised communities, such as those isolated by tiny community churches to huge international, contribution to social welfare: for decades. In addition to healthcare, church-based HIV stigma (see page 18). Church-based organisations in interdenominational networks, with a wide range of organisations have played an important role in education, the UK and Ireland have been at the forefront of organisational structures in between. (One of Tearfund’s -The Church of England (2008) water and sanitation provision, disaster response and aid campaigning for government action on international debt partners, the Kale Heywet Church in Ethiopia, has more contributes more than 23 million distribution. In regions such as southern Sudan, the church than 5,000 churches and more than 5 million individual relief (through Jubilee 2000 and the Jubilee Debt hours of voluntary service p.a. has played a major role in delivering education, and the Campaign) and have been vocal on climate change (as members.) The scope of the church’s response to tackling church has led the way in championing literacy – among part of Stop Climate Chaos), not to mention the Make poverty has exploded as the church itself has begun to -202 churches surveyed in Glasgow other rights – for women and girls in countries such as wake up to its potential as a network. Poverty History campaign. In fact, their scope is growing (2007) ran an average of six ongoing Burkina Faso. Again, however, there is little statistical fast to keep pace with changing social and political Tearfund believes passionately in the potential of this evidence to chart the scope of this work. realities. So, in developing nations ravaged by projects related to social action or network: our ten-year vision is to see 50 million people environmental degradation, Christian NGOs are blazing a social care. Eight churches ran 15 The church has traditionally played to its strength of released from material and spiritual poverty through a trail to make development more environmentally or more. compassionate care, often with a particular focus on worldwide network of 100,000 local churches, including sustainable. And in Zimbabwe, the church is at the helm children and the elderly. Today, church organisations are those in the UK and Ireland. Micah Challenge, which of the pro-democracy struggle, educating voters and -Faith groups contribute more than branching out into areas of emerging need and Tearfund helped initiate, is also uniting and mobilising lobbying for change, while pastors also roll up their £100 million in economic benefits opportunity. In the UK and Ireland, this means engaging thousands of churches worldwide to push for faster sleeves and hand out maize to keep hunger at bay. to Wales (2008). with the needs of refugees and asylum-seekers, for progress on the MDGs. And today a partnership between a example. Overseas, the church at all levels has had to US megachurch – Saddleback – and a network of 1,000 Sources: BBC; Glasgow Churches Action; Gweini. confront the effects of HIV and climate change. local church leaders in Rwanda is rolling out a three-year programme to train 2.5 million Rwandans in combating malaria and rebuilding the peace. d n u f r It is not, however, just the sheer number of people it can a e T /

n mobilise that makes the church network so significant. In o t a the context of the MDG gap, the greatest potential of this C r e t network lies in its ability to reach deep into local e P : o

t communities through local churches – and to meet o h

P people’s material and spiritual needs face to face. This is the key distinctive of the church which sets it apart from many other players and makes it such a potentially significant development partner. And so it is to the local church that we now turn our attention.

10 11 2: DISTINCTIVE STRENGTHS OF THE LOCAL CHURCH ‘It has been estimated that faith communities can reach pretty much every single individual in sub-Saharan Africa in one week, maybe two. The church is a worldwide network; one of the few movements that are both global and This arguably makes them much grassroots. Larger Christian organisations are robust enough to support national health more in touch with people’s systems. But they are part of a network that extends deep into the hamlets and slums daily realities than some of their where poverty hits hardest. It is the links that large church-based organisations have to counterparts in other sectors.’ local congregations – and through them to the very heart of development issues – which Archbishop Njongo Ndungane, make the church such a distinctive and significant player. Here, at the grassroots, the local President of African Monitor church is offering a radical redefinition of poverty and development, transforming communities from the inside out without huge injections of cash. Local congregations’ work is often hidden – and much of its impact is intangible, defying categorisation. If progress on the MDGs is to accelerate, donors and governments cannot afford to overlook Perhaps even more important than the church’s geographical funds to respond to local needs, most cannot count on the local church’s impact and potential. reach are its deep roots in people’s history and culture. Life outside help. Yet, one significant asset makes up for the revolves around the church building: its teachings shape lack of material resources: the vast numbers of willing traditions, attitudes and values. The local church leader and volunteers it can mobilise, often at a moment’s notice. Influence and reach Snapshot: Myanmar – rapid response to disaster elders are generally viewed as having authority and integrity The Christian faith comes with a biblical mandate to help and are considered worthy of respect and trust. In many people living in poverty – and defend ‘the stranger, the The church network extends into the darkest city slum When disaster hits, local congregations do not have communities, especially in rural sub-Saharan Africa, the fatherless and the widow’. This translates on the ground and the most remote rural areas, beyond the reach of to 'enter' a community: they are already at the church is often the only civic group with the credibility (or into literally millions of volunteers worldwide motivated state structures or even an NGO’s most robust 4x4. In epicentre. When Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in May even ability) to call the community together and mobilise by their faith to try to make a difference in practical ways, regions like Southern Africa, the local church is still the 2008, one of Tearfund's partners mobilised volunteers people for action. Being rooted in local history and culture, it without expecting any payment or reward. A recent audit hub of village life, the very heart of poor communities. through its links with 4,500 churches to provide is eminently well placed to challenge values and cultural in Wales found that more than 42,000 volunteers from Often the local church is the poor: its members endure emergency supplies to tens of thousands of survivors. beliefs: in Southern Africa, growing recognition of the value of different faith groups clock up 80,000 hours’ community famine and live with the effects of HIV like everyone else. Its extensive local knowledge and network of educating women and girls can largely be attributed to the work each week. More than 98 per cent of these faith So, in north Uganda, where more than 90 per cent of the churches allowed the organisation to respond church. So the church’s influence is huge and it is often groups are Christian. 11 population have been displaced, the local church is one of effectively in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone people’s first resort in times of trouble. the few community structures which still function – even and maintain a presence in the long-term recovery. It in displacement camps. And in Zimbabwe, the church is took weeks for some foreign aid workers to reach the Snapshot: Ireland – reaching the parts… worst-hit areas. given greater freedom than other agencies to distribute Sustainability aid, particularly in the more remote rural areas. Some groups are so closely defined by their faith that Crucially, the local church is there for the long term, with only faith-based groups can access them with d n

u a promise of sustainable development that not even the practical help. In Ireland, the only way agencies f r a

e most dogged NGO could match. This sustainability is built responding to HIV can engage with the newly arrived T / s n

i upon not just the long-term presence of the church but African immigrant community is through African k r e

P also its ability to engage and involve the whole churches. Tearfund partner ACET was encouraged to s u c

r community – even the most marginalised groups. work with these churches partly by the prompting of a M : Community participation and empowerment brings secular HIV support agencies which had tried and o t o

h community ownership – which is essential if poverty failed to reach immigrant groups. ACET staff say their P reduction efforts are to be truly effective. clients often raise spiritual issues and expect to approach HIV and related issues from a faith perspective. A recent evaluation of the UK’s Faith Human capital Communities Capacity Building Fund (Faith, cohesion and community development – 2007) noted that The local church cannot boast many tangible assets, some vulnerable sectors in society are only reached beyond its building and the small donations left on a through ‘single faith organisations’. Sunday morning collection plate. If congregations need

11 Gweini (2008) Faith in Wales: counting for communities, Evangelical Alliance Wales.

12 13 d n u f r breakdown and even greater vulnerability. Hope is not

a Snapshot: Cambodia –

e The X factor T / unique to the Christian faith. But Christianity is distinctive d helping communities help themselves r o f The most distinctive of all the church’s contributions to in its inclusiveness, in its message that God desires a w a r Samlow Chao, near Cambodia’s border with Vietnam, C alleviating poverty is also the hardest to quantify – faith. personal relationship with everyone and in its teaching f f

o used to be a scruffy, litter-filled little place. Its 100-odd e It’s a currency that may be losing value in our increasingly that everyone is equal and equally loved by God – even G :

o families had no pride in their homes and little interest t secular Western society – but it is still central to people’s those whom society deems unlovely. o h P mindset in much of the developing world (and in many in each other – a typical vestige of the Khmer Rouge immigrant communities in the UK and Ireland: see case Hope and self-esteem may be abstract concepts – but era, which robbed people of initiative. But, within two study on page 13). Faith is a strong motivating factor they are expressed in concrete and practical ways: health- years, Samlow Chao was transformed – with the help mobilising people to help others in need in practical ways. seeking behaviour; the motivation to build for the future; of the Wholistic Development Organisation. WDO, a It can also be a powerful catalyst which helps people in the willingness to look beyond one’s own problems and Christian NGO in a mainly Buddhist context, worked poverty change their own lives. For Tearfund, this is not work for the common good. This can mean the difference closely with the local church, training church members about proselytising, but it is about recognising that people between a village of isolated individuals suffering in as facilitators. These trainees then helped villagers living in poverty are also spiritual beings – and that faith silence and a community pulling together to help each identify the causes of their problems and come up with 13 and development are intricately linked in much of the other out of poverty. solutions. Today, every family in Samlow Chao has their developing world. 12 own vegetable garden; every home is neat and tidy. Wells have been built, latrines installed. Litter is In cultures where religion is a meaningful part of daily life, collected, green waste composted. The Buddhist village faith is intricately linked with people’s identity and sense Redefining effectiveness chief says gambling, drunkenness and domestic of purpose. Outworking their faith in practical ways brings violence have all tailed off. ‘Since [WHO] started to self-fulfilment for believers who reach out to poor people. Of all the ‘comparative advantages’ that FBOs have over work with the church, there is more caring and less Crucially, for those who are suffering, the church other players, it is this then that sets them apart: their quarrelsome behaviour in the village,’ he says. ‘We look recognises that poverty has a spiritual dimension, that ‘whole-person’ approach to development which meets out for one another. The Christians have helped us to poverty lowers self-esteem, robs people of their dignity people’s spiritual and material needs. In country after work together and change.’ (see Cambodia case study on page 15). Trauma country, it is the combination of the church’s ‘tangible and counsellors working with Tearfund partners in the intangible assets’ – in the words of a WHO study – which Snapshot: Burundi – handing on the baton Democratic Republic of Congo find that spiritual needs are makes it such a force to be reckoned with. 14 It may even as pressing as physical needs for people who have be that the combined impact of these assets is greater Tearfund’s Disaster Management Team began its work witnessed brutality and carnage. Contact with people of than the sum of its parts ( see case study on page 16 ) – in Burundi in the mid-1990s with emergency food aid faith can help bring hope, the prospect that the here and though this has yet to be proven empirically. The fact is, to people in Makamba province displaced by civil now can change and improve. however, that over four decades Tearfund and our partners conflict. Later the team helped communities build have seen many communities turned around by relatively Another key aspect of faith, and particularly the Christian food security and tackle malnutrition in the longer small practical initiatives and a fresh sense of purpose and faith, is its emphasis on the relational. Friendship, term. When Tearfund’s team began to plan its hope – even in non-Christian societies (as in the case compassionate care and pastoral support are a key withdrawal, it looked for a partner to catch its vision study on this page). for food security – and the local Pentecostal church expression of Christians’ faith. This ‘spiritual support’ – stepped up to the plate. Tearfund trained local through prayer, counselling, even just a hug – is vital. This A recent inquiry by the Carnegie UK Trust found that there churches to identify the most vulnerable people in is very true of communities hit by HIV, where stigma is increasing pressure on civil society associations in the society and introduce a nutritious porridge into their often deprives affected families of care and hope – and UK and Ireland to demonstrate results in terms of ‘service diet. Soon the church set up a seed-multiplication where a pastor praying with them or giving their dead a delivery, accountability and demands for performance project on land it owned, with a focus on nutritious decent burial can have a huge impact. Part of Christians’ measurement’. 15 Such monitoring is important, yet the grain such as maize, groundnut and soya. So when biblical mandate to care for poor people includes building impact of intangible assets such as hope is not easily Tearfund’s team withdrew from Burundi in 2007, it relationships with people marginalised from mainstream translated into outputs on donors’ logframes. This is not a left behind a sustainable community-based nutrition society. Positive relationships foster hope and community reason to discount these intangibles. Rather, it is a good programme led by the local church. cohesion – even health (see tinted box on page16): reason to broaden the debate over what makes isolation breeds hopelessness, which leads to community development truly ‘effective’ (see Chapter 6).

12 Tearfund is a signatory to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organisations in Disaster Relief. 13 The subject matter in this section is treated in greater depth in ongoing research, as yet unpublished, which is being conducted by Tearfund consultant Dr David Evans. The code states: ‘Humanitarian aid will be given according to the need of individuals, families and communities. Notwithstanding the right of Non Governmental 14 ARHAP (2006) Appreciating assets: the contribution of religion to universal access in Africa. Report for the World Health Organisation. ARHAP, Cape Town. Humanitarian Agencies to espouse particular political or religious opinions, we affirm that assistance will not be dependent on the adherence of the recipients to those 15 Carnegie UK Trust (2007) The shape of civil society to come. http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/ opinions.’ Tearfund was the first UK-based aid agency to receive certification for compliance with the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) Standard in Humanitarian Accountability and Quality Management. 14 15 3: LOCAL CHURCH ON THE FRONT LINE d n

SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH u The local church – the very core of the church network – is at the epicentre of the issues f r a e T

/ afflicting developing nations. Often it is actively engaged on the front line, supporting HIV- FBOs believe people’s health and well- n o s p affected households or sinking wells in response to climate change – sometimes being includes a strong spiritual m o h T

dimension. Yet, this relationship is rarely n singlehandedly. Increasingly, too, it is helping communities confront the underlying issues o t y a

acknowledged in secular society, except L which help feed poverty – from gender discrimination to HIV stigma. Sometimes this : o t

in palliative care. A WHO report o h means acknowledging the part the church itself has played in reinforcing unhelpful P (Broadening the horizon, 2001) found attitudes. Much of the local church has yet to be engaged, but Tearfund believes there is that spiritual beliefs were strong sufficient evidence of its current impact to have faith in its future potential. Most local protective factors in deterring adolescents from early sexual initiation, churches are not capable of high-tech large-scale interventions. But, with relatively few substance abuse and depression, as resources, local churches can and do have a life-changing, sustainable impact on their were meaningful relationships with communities’ health, well-being and self-sufficiency. This chapter gives an overview of the adults at home and in the wider key development fields in which Tearfund partners are working with local churches. community. The report concludes that boosting protective factors is as vital as HIV Initial responses have tended to be small-scale and reducing risk behaviours in teenage practical, playing to the church’s traditional strength – health and development programmes. The HIV pandemic – and the complex mix of technical compassionate care: and social issues which surrounds it – has forced the church to reconsider its role completely and, often, - Home-based care: in many communities, church venture into uncharted waters. Church volunteers are volunteers offer practical help and moral support for households affected by HIV, from helping with basic Snapshot: Cambodia – exhausting themselves nursing the dying and caring for chores and nursing the sick to offering comfort, rebuilding the whole person orphans. Pastors are burying people every week, including members of their own congregation. HIV has been a hard counsel, friendship and prayer. Not so long ago, Chhet and Yin were broken. Poverty testing ground but much of the church has risen to the - Care of orphans and vulnerable children: in the had pushed the girls’ parents to sell them to challenge. This is particularly true of Africa but also absence of state support for these children, it falls to ‘entrepreneurs’ promising good jobs over the border in increasingly of Asia, as well as the UK and Ireland. Some ‘You are our the community – and often the church – to provide Thailand. In fact, the teenagers were put to work selling larger Christian organisations are fully engaged in HIV star players. You are doing for them. fruit for a pittance – then forced into the sex trade. testing, treatment, counselling and drug supply logistics wonderful service in the fight One year later, Chhet and Yin were brought home by (see Chapter 1) – and increasingly in prevention, including - Prevention: pastors can use their influence and against AIDS… HIV-affected people Christian Hope Organisation (CHO) after their parents awareness programmes and preventing parent-to-child- standing to tackle stigma and provide a forum to respond to drugs much better appealed for help to find them. Today, Chhet and Yin transmission. This work is widely recognised and well discuss issues such as gender. when they get care and love.’ are well on the way to being restored – physically, regarded, including by the WHO. 16 But most local church emotionally and spiritually. CHO has taught the girls to responses to HIV are invisible outside their communities. As discussed (Chapter 2), one key distinctive that local Sujata Rao, director general of India’s sew, giving them a livelihood. They’ve had counselling. churches bring to the mix is their focus on holistic care and National AIDS Control Organisation, in an And they now have a strong faith and have been on building relationships. HIV may affect every household address honouring the work of Indian in a community – yet often its effect is to divide and welcomed into a church. The girls feel accepted and Current response churches (New Delhi, April 2007) valued, all a far cry from life in Thailand. ‘People looked isolate. In this context, home-care church volunteers play a crucial role. Their practical support has a huge impact – but Source: www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/5068 down on us,’ says Chhet. ‘We had no freedom. We were Efforts to map the local church response to HIV are recent scared all the time. Now I’m happy, living with my and limited in scope. Those statistics that are available can so too does a hug, a prayer. And when volunteers are living family, getting support. God is blessing me.’ only be indicative – but are impressive nonetheless. A with HIV themselves, they embody the hope that it is WHO-funded survey of Zambia and Lesotho found about possible to live positively with the virus. The impact of Neither Chhet nor Yin is pictured here. 500 religious organisations engaged with HIV – 350 of treating people as individuals with dignity and worth, them at the local level. 17 More than 20,000 local churches rather than as medical statistics, is immeasurable – in both 19 in Zimbabwe run at least one HIV-related programme. 18 senses of the word (see pages 14-15).

16 World Health Organisation (2008) Building from common foundations. (See footnote 7 for full reference.) 17 ARHAP (2006) Appreciating assets. (See footnote 14 for full reference.) 18 Nussbaum, S (ed) (2005) The contribution of Christian congregations to the battle with HIV/AIDS at the community level. GMI for Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. 19 Compare this with the WHO’s definition of ‘decent care’ on page 17 of WHO (2008) Building from common foundations. (See footnote 7 for full reference.) 16 17 Strategic potential If stigma within the church is tackled, the local church has local church is well placed to tackle. Tearfund recently wider church network. The local church’s response, by huge potential in several other niche areas, including commissioned a pioneering pilot study in which contrast, is very much in its infancy – though there are The work of the church at community level is vital. But enabling access to testing and treatment. Access depends, church-based health facilities in seven African nations some strong examples of individual responses. too often its volunteers are fire-fighting and near burn- of course, upon availability, which is still patchy. But too involved local churches in ‘sensitising’ men to the out because they lack resources, training and support – often, even where services are available, take-up is low issue of parent-to-child transmission. 22 It is early days For years now, Tearfund and its partners have been building and may be affected by HIV themselves. For the church because of stigma, or lack of information, or simply and results were mixed. But one partner, Mount the resilience of vulnerable communities to a changing response to be sustainable, it must be much more because people are too poor to travel to clinics. Many Kenya East Hospital, saw testing rates for men rise environment. Projects range from digging wells in Niger to 24 strategic. And if wider efforts towards comprehensive local churches are already helping people access health from 3 to 71 per cent in less than two years – a rise help nomadic Tuareg adapt to increasing drought to prevention and universal access to HIV treatment are to services by, for example, taking them for testing or attributed in part to church leaders preaching on introducing new farming methods in Burkina Faso to make 25 be successful, the local church’s potential must not engaging in advocacy on access to treatment. And some fathers’ responsibility for their unborn child. land more productive with changing seasonal patterns. be overlooked. local churches are helping to decentralise healthcare by Today, some Tearfund partners are beginning adaptation projects responding specifically to climate change. Others Tearfund research has identified that the first priority for offering basic services in the community (see Mozambique case study below). are providing renewable energy technology – which, as well local church initiatives on HIV prevention should be as addressing climate change, can bring development gains 20 Environmental sustainability ending stigma and discrimination. Stigma breeds silence for poor communities: for instance, a solar-powered light which helps HIV spread; it breeds shame which dissuades Environmental sustainability is a prerequisite for poverty enables youngsters to study in the evening in homes which people from accessing testing and treatment. Stigma can Snapshot: Mozambique – care in the community reduction. Slowly, the world is waking up to the need to live do not have electricity. Tearfund is keen to develop the only thrive in a climate of ignorance and broken in a way that recognises and responds to climate change Antiretrovirals are now available free of charge in capacity of the local church to help communities work relationships. The church, of course, has sometimes been and environmental degradation. So too is the church. Many Mozambique’s Gondola district. But it’s still a challenge towards environmental sustainability more generally, and is guilty of feeding stigma by portraying HIV as the wages of sectors of the church – particularly in developing nations for people living with HIV to come to health clinics for currently exploring the potential of local church distinctives. sexual sin and, at worst, shunning HIV-affected people. where the effects of climate change and degradation are Christian beliefs about caring for creation and confronting treatment and to follow ARV regimes at home. That’s already keenly felt – are beginning to respond to their Yet, when the church plays to its strengths, its combined why Tearfund partner Kubatsirana is training church injustice can be a useful narrative to help people engage biblical mandate to act. Many others, though, need to be with environmental issues. focus on offering hope, shaping attitudes and building volunteers in Gondola to tackle stigma and the educated, envisioned and trained, probably through the bridges – the spiritual and the relational – makes it a key problem of access in very practical ways. Volunteers contributor to ending stigma. Church members are first befriend people with HIV and, as well as offering extending the hand of friendship and support. Church practical help with household chores and spiritual leaders are proving powerful advocates for change by support such as prayer, they get people to clinics to Snapshot: Malawi – taking a lead promoting acceptance and showing true leadership by, for access ARVs. Then volunteers make regular home visits Most local churches in rural Malawi have few resources example, taking an HIV test. One of the most effective to check drugs are being taken. Volunteers are trained to tackle hunger and drought. But that proved no ways of tackling stigma is involving people living positively by a specialist doctor and given medical kits that hurdle when Living Waters, an indigenous church with HIV – as witnessed by the huge impact of groups enable them to treat potentially fatal secondary denomination, decided to mobilise congregations to such as INERELA+, the International Network of Religious infections in the home setting. With Tearfund’s support, act. Living Waters trained pastors to teach people how Leaders living with or personally Affected by HIV and AIDS. Kubatsirana is able to give volunteers a monthly to manage their food supplies, dig irrigation channels payment-in-kind of food. and grow drought-resistant crops. In Fombe village, Chikwawa district, the church also began a tree- Snapshot: India – tackling taboos planting programme which dramatically reduced the The issues of stigma and access to treatment are impact of floods; more recently, the community has In Mumbai, church volunteers trained by Christian critically important in the field of preventing parent- been working together to build dykes to prevent NGO Imcares reach out to marginalised communities to-child transmission of HIV (PPTCT). Larger Christian flooding. Living Waters churches all over Malawi are such as transgender hijras. The hijra community is organisations are key providers of PPTCT services – now following Fombe’s lead and helping the poor. surrounded by stigma: many are sex workers, many are but often find that take-up is low. HIV testing of both Pastor Cuthbert Gondwe of Living Waters recalls how it living with HIV. State services rarely reach the hijras: parents is key to PPTCT services: women are twice as all began: ‘We were just a few people: no paid staff, no church volunteers care for them in the home and help susceptible to HIV infection during pregnancy and a car. We had no money. So we operated on a principle them access medical care. Many churches now newly-infected mother is highly likely to pass on the of using what we had. We discovered our strength was welcome hijras to their services. 21 virus to her unborn child. Yet, stigma and ignorance that the Living Waters Church is found in every district.’ conspire to keep testing rates for fathers-to-be Photo: Marcus Perkins/Tearfund extremely low. This, however, is one hurdle that the

20 This research is ongoing and as yet unpublished. 22 Downing, R (2008) Focused church-based action for PPTCT. Report for Tearfund. 21 The viral load is highest when someone is newly infected. 23 World Bank/IMF (2008) Global Monitoring Report. (See footnote 1 for full reference.) 24 http://www.tearfund.org/Climatenew/My+Global+Impact/Niger.htm 25 http://www.tearfund.org/Climatenew/My+Global+Impact/Burkina+Faso.htm 18 19 It is in the field of disaster risk reduction (DRR) that making sure those grassroots needs are on the national Snapshot: Uganda – water in inaccessible places Tearfund partners’ track record is currently strongest. DRR political agenda too. The consortium’s programme involves limiting communities’ vulnerability to disaster coordinator Dr David Kamchacha of the Evangelical For more than 20 years, Kigezi Diocese has been and building their capacity so that damage and disruption Alliance of Malawi works closely with government delivering water and sanitation to households in remote are minimised when disaster strikes. The range of projects departments: he was invited to be part of the Malawian mountainous parts of south-west Uganda, several is vast: from replanting mangroves in storm-lashed coastal government delegation to the UN Climate Change hundred metres above surface- and ground-water areas of Honduras 26 to helping create a radio ‘soap opera’ Conferences in Bali (2007) and Poland (2008). supplies. It works closely with church leaders and featuring DRR storylines in Afghanistan. 27 There is now congregations to promote and demonstrate good growing recognition that the most successful DRR efforts hygiene and sanitation by, for example, installing demonstration latrines on church property. Since 2006, combine the expertise of outside agencies with the local Water, sanitation and hygiene knowledge of vulnerable communities – which is why 23 women’s church volunteer groups have been trained Tearfund and its partners are increasingly working with Of all the MDGs, the loudest alarm bells are sounding in masonry and are now installing 4,000-litre rainwater- and through the local church. While local churches may over the lack of progress on the target for water and catchment tanks, to benefit the poorest families in not have the capacity and resources for technical or sanitation (watsan). This will have a massive effect on particular. Contests, announced through churches, offer specialist responses, they are a natural mediator between other goals such as tackling disease and primary school prizes for the most hygienic household. Kigezi Diocese is outside agencies and even the most remote and attendance. The main barrier to progress is a lack of now influential in national policymaking on water. To vulnerable communities: political engagement with the crisis – but there is also a date, it has provided hygiene education, sanitation and critical need to increase developing nations’ human and basic water supplies to about 200,000 people, making it - They can provide basic information and early warnings technical capacity to respond. The church has a long track the largest organisation addressing WASH issues in the about slow-onset disasters such as famine. The church record in providing water and sanitation, particularly in area. It reaches up to 25,000 more people annually. network can be crucial in conveying information from regions not reached by other agencies. Now the church is Photo: Richard Hanson/Tearfund local to national levels. scaling up its response and is a significant player with an - They can help local communities identify root problems increasingly integrated response covering water, advocacy, Sanitation is one area in which the local church, when - The church’s roots in local culture mean it can provide 29 and build local ownership of initiatives to solve them. sanitation and hygiene (WASH). playing to its strengths, is particularly well placed to make appropriate advice and technologies, sensitive to all a sustainable difference. At the local level, sanitation is all sectors of society, including women and people of Tearfund, which has been working on water and sanitation - Church leaders can be trained to teach people how to about education and simple interventions. Too often other faiths. through the church for more than 20 years, brought manage food supplies and grow drought-resistant crops sanitation projects led by external agencies struggle improved watsan to an estimated 3.7 million people (see Malawi case study on page 19). because they fail to engage and educate communities - The church’s long-term presence in the community between 2000 and 2006. The following Tearfund partners before installing latrines. 30 The success of any sanitation ensures sustainability – from reinforcing education - Once DRR measures such as flood dykes are installed, working through local churches give a snapshot of the project depends on behaviour change – people messages to helping communities maintain facilities. the local church can oversee ongoing maintenance. scale of the church’s involvement: understanding the benefits of better hygiene and - Churches are beginning to lobby for better policies and sanitation, abandoning traditional practices (such as - A crucial complement to work on disaster risk reduction - The Diocese of Niassa has brought hygiene education practice at local and national levels, and so have an defecating in the open) and adopting new ones. The local is advocacy that brings changes to national and to thousands of people in north-west Mozambique, important role to play in getting watsan onto the church’s ability to engage its community and bring about international policy. The local church can gather where the state has no presence. political agenda. 31 evidence of climate change at the grassroots and behaviour change is key: mobilise its members to speak out (see pages 22-23). - In north-east Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Full Gospel Believers Church, working through the local church - The church’s authority and influence – through pastors It is early days but some sectors of the church are setting network, has trained people to build and sell water- and volunteers – mean it can play a strategic strong precedents. In Malawi, six Tearfund partners, all big purifying bio-sand filters – and stimulate demand educational role. A well maintained latrine in a church compound can be a strategic catalyst for behaviour

organisations representing thousands of local churches, for them. d n u

change. Churches are also a non-threatening forum for f have formed a DRR consortium with funding from DFID: r a e

- In Brazil, Christian NGO Fale worked with local T its aim is to make 23,600 vulnerable families more discussion or training. / n o

churches to lobby the government for national s resilient to disaster by 2010, through programmes ranging p

- Its ability to engage the whole community is crucial. m 28 guidelines for public policy on environmental a from food security to disaster early warning systems. H d sanitation – achieving success in 2008. Installing latrines in individual homes is futile unless r a

All six partners work with church leaders to engage h c

everyone manages their waste. i R

communities in identifying their vulnerabilities and being : o t o

part of the solution to their problems. And they are h P

26 http://www.tearfund.org/Climatenew/My+Global+Impact/Honduras.htm 30 For more information, see Tearfund (2007) The Sanitation Scandal. 27 http://tilz.tearfund.org/Topics/Disaster+Risk+Reduction/DRR+Case+studies.htm 31 For more information, see van Hoek and Yardley (2008) Keeping communities clean: the church’s response to improving sanitation and hygiene, Tearfund. 28 http://tilz.tearfund.org/webdocs/Tilz/Topics/DRR/DRR%20Leaflet.pdf 29 Water, advocacy, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are all key components of Tearfund’s current Make Life Flow campaign. 20 21 Advocacy Crucially, the local church can ensure that the voices of And, when campaigning is successful and services in poor Snapshot: UK and Ireland – even the most marginalised – and most vulnerable – communities improve, the church can play a major role in speaking out on the environment Much of the church has been slow to engage in advocacy groups are heard. This community-led approach, even if helping governments and others deliver on their on behalf of poor communities, often for fear of seeming facilitated by a larger Christian NGO, is crucial for issues commitments through monitoring and evaluation. So, for The church has already established itself as a too ‘politicised’ or confrontational. But increasingly the such as sanitation, a far greater priority for poor example, the National Council of Churches in Kenya significant voice in campaigning on climate change – church is recognising its potential to help bring about communities than for their political representatives. In encourages communities to publish on noticeboards and Tearfund has mobilised thousands of Christians to good governance, policy reform and better services for the situations such as Zimbabwe’s political crisis or, details of how much funding the government gives to speak out. Recent lobbying was instrumental in poor – and its biblical mandate to do so. Today the church previously, Sudan’s civil war, the local church has been one local schools – to hold teachers to account for their use of bolstering UK legislation on emissions targets through as a global network is a key player in campaigning on of the few channels able to disseminate information these resources. amendments to what is now the Climate Change Act. issues such as climate change and trade justice. Its ability about what is going on at grassroots level. Thereafter, the Tearfund’s My Global Impact online service urges to communicate with and mobilise huge numbers of church network comes into its own, with its ability to Advocacy is central to Tearfund’s ten-year vision to raise individuals and churches to reduce their own carbon people has been clear in, for example, the Make Poverty unite local campaigns and get them onto the wider 50 million people out of poverty. Training, envisioning and footprint, underlining the interconnectedness of the History campaign and Micah Challenge. political agenda: building the capacity of our partners – and through them global church and our shared responsibility to tackle local churches in the UK, Ireland and overseas – is crucial climate change on behalf of the developing nations Promoting ‘active citizenship’ 32 is critical to advocacy, - Church leaders can liaise with policymakers at local to this end. Where this is happening already, the impact suffering its worst effects. Tearfund was the UK’s first envisioning poor communities to identify their needs and and regional level, and use local media to publicise is considerable: NGO working in international development to then engage proactively with decision-makers. Involving their campaign. campaign on climate change. the local church is key to the success of many advocacy - Sanitation: advocacy by churches in Burkina Faso, campaigns. Pastors, as respected and trusted community - Pastors can call on higher-level church leaders such as supported by NGO Accedes, led to hygiene and leaders, see poverty and injustice up close: they are well bishops to raise concerns with policymakers, media sanitation becoming a named item in local authority placed to help people identify problems (and root causes), and the wider church network. budgets for the first time in 2008. Churches are to gather first-hand accounts of injustice and encourage regular stakeholders in decision-making at regional - Larger Christian organisations can train local pastors in 33 people to speak out. level now. advocacy and support church leaders in shaping their policy positions. - HIV: local churches in Zambia’s Copperbelt province invited MPs to workshops on HIV, as part of the Micah Challenge. In one district, availability of antiretroviral

d 34 n

u treatment rose by 43 per cent in just three weeks. f r a e T / l l - Good governance and injustice: local churches in a t n

e Zimbabwe have been calling for greater democracy, B r o

n lobbying for constitutional and legislative reform, as a e l

E well as educating people about voting rights and ‘There’s nothing more : o t

o responsibilities. Local lobbying has included everything

h radical, nothing more P from access to clean water to children’s rights. revolutionary, nothing more - Education: Emmanuel Hospital Association has helped subversive against injustice communities in the remote Andaman Islands lobby and oppression than the Bible.’ the Indian authorities, mobilising churches to help Archbishop Desmond Tutu, locals identify priority needs in, for example, schooling. Tearfund conference, London, 6 September 2008

32 A phrase used by Micah Challenge. 33 For more information, see van Hoek and Yardley (2008) Keeping communities clean: the church’s response to improving sanitation and hygiene, Tearfund. 34 http://www.micahchallenge.org/

22 23 d n u f r 4: DEVELOPING THE LOCAL CHURCH’S POTENTIAL a e T / n o s p m o h T n o t y a L : o t o h

P The local church has many distinctive strengths – but its full potential cannot be tapped until its weaknesses are addressed. Tearfund’s involvement with church-based organisations over 40 years means it is well aware of these fault lines. But we believe strongly that these hurdles can be overcome. The weaknesses of the local church will be best tackled by larger church organisations which share their values and vision. This will only be possible if links across the church network are strengthened. We at Tearfund are committed to making this happen: the greater the capacity of the local church, the greater the potential of the church as a whole to scale up its development work.

Limitations and weaknesses - Low capacity

Working within the local church’s limitations and tackling Most church members have limited skills and its weaknesses are key to releasing its latent potential. resources: most are poor and uneducated and often their pastor is too. Even when they are envisioned to Gender There is no doubt that the church must accept some of the One major limitation – which is also one of its distinctive blame for women’s low social status: often it has reinforced strengths – is its reliance on volunteers who, though serve their community, churches can be limited to Women bear a disproportionate share of the poverty gender stereotypes or remained silent on them. Poor highly motivated, are usually limited in the skills and time fire-fighting, reacting to need and lacking the capacity burden. Gender discrimination continues to straitjacket theology has led pastors to distort biblical teaching about they can offer. So most local churches are incapable of to tackle root causes. women, barring them from basics such as education, marriage, men and women. Too often, church hierarchies specialist technical responses. Its weaknesses, though, are Church leaders and laity need help to boost their healthcare and a fair wage. The legacy of decades of bar women from positions of leadership or responsibility. not beyond redemption: capacity through targeted training to address inequality is nowhere more brutally evident than in HIV The HIV crisis has been a wake-up call to churches which specific needs more strategically. statistics: in some nations, young women and girls are up were blind to gender issues. Some remain entrenched in 35 to 13 times more likely to have HIV than young men; in their views. But many pastors are now tackling wrong - Blinkered vision, poor theology other countries married women are more at risk from HIV theology, and are spreading the message that relationships than their sexually active unmarried peers. Challenging between men and women should be built on equality, not Many churches are still blind to their biblical mandate the low status of women and gender-based violence is a hierarchy. In some cases, local church volunteers are to bring both practical and spiritual support to people key factor in enabling HIV prevention – and in making actively confronting inequalities in their community: in need. Too many remain as ‘holy huddles’ development generally sustainable. Change must be root- unconnected to their communities. Some pastors have and-branch – from improving female literacy to allowing - In the Democratic Republic of Congo, HEAL Africa (a limited themselves to commenting on society’s ills women greater involvement in community decision- Christian NGO) educates different faith groups, and rather than rolling up their sleeves and getting to grips ‘The challenge to making, particularly on issues relating to women’s through them the wider community, about women’s with their causes. Others have been paternalistic in all of us in the church traditional roles (such as fetching water). constitutional right to be free from violence and about their approach to welfare, dispensing handouts but not of the 21st century is to put recent laws on rape. Faith leaders are trained using engaging with their communities. The church has aside our past differences and religious texts and traditional proverbs. HEAL has often stayed silent on issues such as materialism and share what we’ve learnt about helped set up committees (made up of Christian, sex. And it has at times endorsed gender Snapshot: Burkina Faso – gender bias in church development. The only way we can Muslim and Kimbanguist community members) which discrimination and fed stigma which contributes to Christian NGO Vigilance organised workshops for address stigma and identify women in need, as well as the spread of HIV. tackle global poverty effectively married couples from local churches, addressing selecting volunteers (often from churches) for is by working together.’ traditional attitudes which locked women into servile counselling training. 36 Churches need envisioning about their role and Reuben Coulter, Chief Executive, roles. In one village, the resulting change in men’s potential to engage dynamically with their - In Uganda, ACET works with local church volunteers to Tearfund Ireland behaviour was so marked that people outside the community’s problems, bringing practical and befriend and educate vulnerable groups such as the church asked to join the programme. Husbands started spiritual support. They need to recognise their boda boda men (motorcycle taxi-drivers) in Kampala to involve their wives in decision-making – and involve potential as a catalyst to help individuals come about HIV and gender issues. 37 themselves more in parenting. Several wives said their together as a community to tackle poverty. To this sex lives improved too… end, they should model acceptance and inclusivity.

35 Statement at the 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women, 26 February to 9 March 2007, UNAIDS, New York. 36 http://tilz.tearfund.org/Topics/HIV+and+AIDS/Mexico+Conference.htm 37 bid.

24 25 5: WHY PARTNERSHIP IS THE WAY FORWARD

Mutual benefits Snapshot: Uganda – If the development community is serious about scaling up its response to global poverty shaking up the church to shake off dependency All these weaknesses can be addressed by strengthening and attaining the MDGs, there is an urgent need for closer collaboration between all the the links between local churches and larger Christian Until recently, the Pentecostal Assemblies of God different actors – governments, donors, faith-based organisations (FBOs) and civil society organisations, be they denominational structures or (PAG) in Uganda found their development efforts were groups. Donors and policymakers are increasingly convinced about the important role of NGOs. Among the strengths that larger church-based often frustrated by an attitude of dependency which organisations bring to the partnership are: sectoral pervaded poor communities – and some churches. the church in development and are already taking steps towards more meaningful experience and expertise in specific areas of development Then PAG began a process which has turned member engagement. We at Tearfund believe that development efforts could have better outcomes and in implementing projects; staff dedicated to churches in four districts inside out. With training from and greater impact if players worked together more cohesively. Otherwise, these efforts Tearfund, PAG now envisions church leaders about development; and the ability to relate to donors and will not be as productive as they might be. handle funding. Local churches do not need vast amounts tackling poverty; pastors then share the vision with of extra cash: they rarely have the infrastructure and congregations; church members talk with community systems to use large amounts of funding effectively and leaders about how to address local problems starting Positive vibes Snapshot: UK – building bridges accountably. Local churches do, however, need mobilising, with resources available locally. By working together educating and training. Once envisioned and equipped, and involving everyone, communities in Soroti district The current political climate in the UK and Ireland bodes The Springfield Project at St Christopher’s Church in local churches can make a small amount of seed funding have been able to pool resources – and access help well for the prospect of greater engagement between the Moseley has a strong track record of offering facilities go a very long way (see page 32). from local government and NGOs. For example, church and other agencies. The UK government has shown and support services to its community, one of the most parents in one village have clubbed together to provide itself increasingly open to dialogue with faith groups, deprived and multicultural areas of Birmingham. That’s The benefits from partnership between local churches and land for a school. People are improving food security particularly in the post-9/11 era with its focus on why the city council approached the project about larger Christian organisations are mutual. While local with new cassava varieties and farming methods – and community cohesion. The Irish government recognised the working in partnership to develop a children’s centre churches become better able to respond to their accessing government grants for beehives. One group important role of FBOs in the Ireland Aid Review 2002, on its site, as part of the Sure Start programme. Today, community’s needs, wider poverty reduction programmes has begun a tree-planting project to lessen the which stated that ‘the historical roots of Ireland’s Aid the project has a purpose-built centre offering can benefit hugely from links to the grassroots. For environmental impact of charcoal-burning. People are programme lie in the remarkable work which has been extended services for children and families – from day example, one church in Soroti, Uganda, had its members looking out for one another as never before. carried out over many years by Irish missionaries’. 38 In care to benefits advice. It works closely with the trained in HIV counselling by an NGO and now offers this 2008, Misean Cara, which supports missionaries’ overseas statutory and voluntary sectors, including Jobcentre service free in people’s homes; testing rates at health development work, was allocated €20 million. Plus and local schools, receiving many referrals. The clinics are rising now clients do not have to pay for pre- venture has helped the church live out its passion to test counselling. The success of national and international There are some signs that dialogue is translating into build bridges between different social and cultural advocacy campaigns such as Micah Challenge depends partnership – initiatives such as the Faith Communities groups – and provided the council with a gateway into greatly on information and evidence provided by churches Capacity Building Fund (FCCBF) and Labour’s Believing in a a diverse community and some hard-to-reach groups. at the grassroots. In the context of HIV, local churches are better Britain consultation with faith groups. The Glasgow well placed to help identify gaps in service provision or Charter, signed by ten Christian denominations, the city give feedback on the social impact of HIV which can council and the Scottish Parliament, committed signatories inform policy. to ‘a new era of partnership between churches and the City Council in planning and caring for Glasgow and all its The success of Tearfund’s ten-year vision (see inside front people’. 39 In Wales, some 500 faith communities take part cover) depends very much on equipping the local church in government regeneration activities and/or are strongly through its Christian partners. Tearfund works with larger involved in their local Community Strategy. 40 Even so, a church-based organisations in many countries to help local recent FCCBF report found that some local authorities still churches engage dynamically with their communities (see suspect the faith sector of discriminatory attitudes; some case study below). Similarly, we envision and equip many FBOs feel a need to hide their faith identity when applying

local churches in the UK and Ireland for social action d 41 n for government funds. u f r

through our Church, community and change programme. a e T /

Our new Just People? course, developed in partnership s n i k r

with Livability as part of Community Mission Partnership, e P s

envisions churches to engage actively with poverty and u c r a

injustice at home and abroad. M : o t o h P

38 http://www.irishaid.gov.ie/partners_missionary.asp 39 Glasgow Churches Action (2007) The salt of the earth. www.glasgowchurchesaction.org 40 Gweini (2008) Faith in Wales: counting for communities, Evangelical Alliance Wales. 41 Community Development Foundation (2007) Faith, cohesion and community development. http://www.cdf.org.uk/SITE/UPLOAD/DOCUMENT/FCCBF_Summary- final_lo-res.pdf 26 27 d n u f r

a Snapshot: Peru – pooling expertise

Poles apart e Together stronger? T / l l a t

n After the Shining Path’s reign of terror, Peru established

Overseas, the extent to which partnership exists varies e For the church – and faith groups generally – a new era of B

r a Commission of Truth and Reconciliation to help hugely according to the context. Research has tended to o partnership is not simply an ideal: it is an urgent necessity. n a e focus on the health sector and has covered FBOs generally. l Many church-based organisations are under incredible strain, rebuild the peace. To carry out the commission’s E : o In some strongly Christian nations in Central and Southern t operating with scant resources in trying circumstances. Many recommendations, the government disbursed large o h Africa, there is close, effective collaboration between P say they are at ‘breaking point’ in trying to care for orphans amounts of funding to local authorities but many were governments and faith-based health networks. The and vulnerable children singlehandedly. 45 Most church-based unprepared for such responsibilities. Peace and Hope, a Christian Health Association of Zambia, for example, has a organisations in the health sector rely heavily on external large Christian NGO, helped local officials strengthen contractual arrangement with the government for providing funding, which is inadequate. 46 Consequently, many are their planning processes and shared its long experience a comprehensive healthcare strategy in some areas where seriously understaffed and haemorrhaging their best of working with the rural communities worst affected its members’ hospitals are the only facilities. Christian personnel to state health facilities. 47 At local level, church by political violence. It also helped build the capacity of health associations in several other African nations have projects’ reliance on already exhausted volunteers is of civil society groups so they could engage more formal agreements with national governments and specific serious concern – their capacity and long-term sustainability effectively with local government. Funding was service agreements at district level; most also take part in are badly compromised. Closer collaboration must include conditional on local people being involved in deciding national health planning and policy development. 42 But in more funding for FBOs – a case Tearfund has made how money should be spent – a process in which West African nations such as Mali, where there are fewer elsewhere. 48 For the church, this means increasing funding to Peace and Hope played a key role. So communities FBOs, collaboration is less common. 43 the larger church-based organisations so they can scale up previously overlooked by the state benefited from their efforts – and build the capacity of the local church. education, healthcare and agriculture projects – and The picture is rather different at civil society level. Here felt ‘compensated’ for their suffering collaboration between the church and other agencies is For governments and international donors, the church is an often weak, and tends to weaken further the closer to the essential partner for sustainable development for all the grassroots a church organisation is working. In the health reasons set out previously (and on page 30). Faced with the sector, informal ‘non-facility-based services’ are all but prospect of global recession, it is a compelling fact that invisible to public sector players – and sometimes even to local churches can make a little funding go a long way in larger Christian organisations. The same is true of church- Snapshot: Ethiopia – the self-help revolution helping communities shake off dependency. When pastors based organisations working with orphans and vulnerable and congregations are fully trained and envisioned, they children in the thick of HIV epidemics, for example. Recent Kale Heywet Church works with city churches to help can make funds go even further (see Malawi case study research by the African Religious Health Assets Programme poor communities help themselves. Two members of page 19). A Tearfund partner in Zimbabwe which employs (ARHAP) for the Gates Foundation found a lack of each church are employed to identify the poorest just ten staff has helped train more than 3,000 volunteers coordination and collaboration between FBOs and secular homes in their locality. These households are divided who now care for 78,000 orphans. agencies – with some serious consequences. 44 So FBOs: into self-help groups, each with its own church worker to give training and advice. Groups pool their resources in a Tearfund believes that effective partnership – where each - tend to work in parallel, not in partnership, with other savings fund and add to it through small-scale partner plays to its strengths and brings its own distinctives agencies. Efforts may be duplicated, creating ‘priority fundraising (eg: knitting). They then take small repayable to the mix – has the potential to do more than just extend gaps’ in service loans from the fund to set up their own businesses (eg coverage. We believe that development players can achieve far more by working together than they can apart. - tend to have to compete with other players for staff etc teashops). Many now have better incomes – and new friends. Across Ethiopia, there are now about 300 Medium- to long-term goals may be reached more quickly, - are not always involved in national planning or church-linked self-help groups benefiting about 31,000 health outcomes improved; money can be made to go policymaking or represented on coordinating bodies people directly. The total number of Kale Heywet self- further and reach previously unreached groups (below). In help groups – including those set up without the help of public management-speak, the aim is ‘maximising assets’. - tend to be independently – and inadequately – funded local churches – now stands at 1,000 nationwide, Our partners’ experiences of multisectoral collaboration to benefiting more than 100,000 people. date certainly support this theory.

42 WHO (2008) Building from common foundations. (See footnote 7 for full reference.) 45 Ibid. 43 ARHAP (2008) The contribution of religious entities to health in sub-Saharan Africa. (See note 3.) 46 WHO (2008) Building from common foundations. (See footnote 7 for full reference.) 44 Ibid. ARHAP’s findings referred to FBOs generally but by inference they apply to the church too. 47 Ibid. Also, ARHAP (2008) The contribution of religious entities to health in sub-Saharan Africa. 48 Cf: Tearfund (2006) Working together: challenges and opportunities for international development agencies and the church in the response to AIDS in Africa. Also, Tearfund (2006) Faith Untapped. 28 29 6. THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF PARTNERSHIP

Tearfund believes that there are significant opportunities for greater collaboration between MAKING THE CASE FOR CLOSER COLLABORATION FBOs, civil society groups, governments and donors – with huge potential benefits for the poorest communities worldwide. There are, however, some major challenges to overcome too. This will take a radical overhaul of structures, approaches and attitudes. All sides need to Donors and policymakers increasingly community values and priorities. They are more likely to be owned by local people and therefore to be willing to change and to confront the barriers which currently stand in the way of closer recognise the role that civil society be more sustainable. What’s more, they often collaboration. Mutual understanding and trust will be the necessary foundations on which can play in tackling poverty – continue long after any formal funding partnership is built. This chapter does not purport to set out a framework for action but aims by empowering and engaging arrangement ends: church volunteers are moved to to galvanise the debate as we begin the countdown to the MDG deadline. communities. The church has already respond regardless of resources. The church’s root- and-branch approach – tackling people’s spiritual proved its suitability for this role. and material needs – is key to making capacity in this area. Tearfund and bodies such as the WHO development truly sustainable. Common ground In ‘donor-speak’, the church offers advocate a more creative and flexible approach in the huge ‘added value’ in terms of the GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY: Church responses Recognising what FBOs, governments and donors already demands that governments and donors make of FBOs in criteria which donors and offer a great return on relatively small investments. have in common is a crucial next step after understanding return for funding – one which does not compromise their each other’s distinctive strengths. We are, after all, united in distinctive strengths, such as volunteerism. 50 governments might consider when They rely heavily on highly motivated volunteers. Church projects are usually dependent on local a common aim: eradicating poverty sustainably. We all also assessing prospective partners: resources, which are usually meagre. Yet their recognise the need to extend our reach to the grassroots impact is often disproportionately large (see and, increasingly, the need to work together on this. Systems and structures TRUST: The church’s long-standing involvement in page 26). Crucially, many of our core values overlap. The biblical call community means it is widely trusted – often to ‘love thy neighbour’ cuts across religious and cultural Collaboration between the church, state and secular actors more than other institutions. So poor people often REPLICABILITY: Church networks provide a unique barriers. The emerging concept of ‘decent care’ is an will be outworked in different ways in different contexts. choose church-run health clinics over other opportunity to replicate simple but effective important framework for any debate about closer However it develops, new mechanisms and structures will available options, perceiving them to be better. In a projects because of their links with many local collaboration on healthcare and HIV. Decent care’s focus on be needed to facilitate partnership. Crucially, it will mean 2008 Gallup poll, 1 the regional mean for public churches (see Ethiopia case study on page 28). the experience of ‘the patient’, drawing on spiritual giving n etworks of local churches a place at the table in confidence in religious bodies across 31 sub- Envisioning and training – rather than huge traditions such as dignity and integrity, resonates with the national decision-making and policy forums generally. Saharan African countries was 82 per cent, far investments – are what it will take to see projects underlying tenets of church-based healthcare, according to Specifically, it will mean church representation on national 49 higher than figures for public confidence in mushrooming across the network. the WHO. bodies coordinating responses in specific fields, such as HIV. Actors such as the WHO could play a crucial intermediary government. If the church is involved in While some sectors of the ACCOUNTABILITY: role in building these partnerships. 51 There is also a need for: multisectoral programmes, it lends its credibility church still have to prove their financial and accountability to projects of which accountability, many larger church-based Self-awareness and flexibility - clarity and coordination of national policy, e.g. communities might otherwise be suspicious. 2 organisations are proving themselves capable of As discussed, the church needs to acknowledge and address approaches such as the Three Ones principles which 52 ACCESS: The church is able to bridge the gap strong governance and financial accountability. the fact that some of its more conservative beliefs have coordinate HIV responses nationally between even the poorest, most marginalised Unicef research has found FBOs’ financial systems been a hindrance to wider poverty reduction efforts. For 3 - greater regional coordination, eg through regional to be ‘as well organised as those of larger NGOs’. example, the church has sometimes frustrated HIV groups and broader development efforts. agencies providing technical and administrative support prevention work by refusing to promote condoms. It also WILLINGNESS TO SCALE UP : Surveys of church to locally based initiatives 53 COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP AND needs to strengthen its own case for collaboration by SUSTAINABILITY: Local church responses come responses find that local churches want to do more to meet local needs. 4 undertaking further scoping and mapping exercises (such as - coordinating mechanisms which allow people at district from within the community and so reflect those undertaken by ARHAP in the health sector) to prove and local levels to feed into national decision-making that it is already a significant player in other development through, for example, n etworks of local churches 1 http://www.gallup.com/poll/107287/Few-Urban-Congolese-Confidence-Institutions.aspx fields. Capacity limitations mean that church-based 2 A recent US government publication cites public trust as one of many strengths of faith-based community organisations: US Dept of Health and Social organisations generally do not have a strong track record in - funding mechanisms that will give n etworks of local Services (2008) Partnering with faith-based and community organizations. churches – and other civil society agencies – better 3 Foster (2004) Study of the response by faith-based organisations to orphans and vulnerable children. World Conference of Religions for Peace/United reporting or monitoring and evaluation – a significant bar Nations Children’s Fund. to accessing the very funding which might boost their access to funding streams 4 For example: ARHAP (2006) Appreciating assets. (See footnote 14.)

49 WHO (2008) Building from common foundations. (See footnote 7 for full reference). See also ARHAP (2008) The potential and perils of partnership: Christian religious entities and collaborative stakeholders responding to HIV and AIDS in Kenya, Malawi and the DRC. For Tearfund/UNAIDS. 50 WHO (2008) Building from common foundations. (See footnote 7 for full reference.) 51 The WHO itself acknowledges this. See WHO (2008) Building from common foundations. 52 For more, visit http://www.unaids.org/en/CountryResponses/MakingTheMoneyWork/ThreeOnes 30 53 ARHAP (2008) The contribution of religious entities to health in sub-Saharan Africa. (See note 3.) 31 Understanding and trust

A constant refrain of studies looking at the potential for closer collaboration between governments, donors and FBOs is the call for mutual trust. 54 Donors are encouraged to ‘Development can make be more ‘faith literate’, to acknowledge the central role of the mistake of valuing only faith in development in many nations. Intangibles in the list the things it can measure of church distinctives such as compassion and hope do not empirically. The church’s version fit with traditional impact indicators. Secular organisations of sustainable development suspect the church of trying to reshape liberal societies involves things you can’t around their particular values: the church is wary of any measure – hope, love, self-esteem. engagement which might try to turn it into a secular NGO. How do you measure love We all need to make greater efforts to understand the on a logframe?’ distinctive assets and perspectives which each of us brings to the table – and be willing and open to learn from each Paul Brigham, other. Reconciling different definitions of effectiveness is a Tearfund’s UK Director case in point. Understandably, donors tend to rate development responses according to their cost- effectiveness and measurable impact. The church’s definition of effectiveness, by contrast, is bound up with concepts of personal and social transformation (see Chapter 2) and so tends to be much wider, embracing a longer timeframe. There is a lively debate to be had about what makes development truly effective and sustainable. Mutual respect of difference is a good starting point and a prerequisite for mutual understanding. Mutual understanding in turn builds trust – which is the cornerstone of any meaningful partnership.

54 Recent research for Tearfund by ARHAP (see footnote 49) found that trust between ‘government and Christian religious entities’ was key in Kenya, where multisectoral collaboration is relatively strong and well established. http://www.arhap.uct.ac.za/downloads/TFUNAIDS_full_June2008.pdf

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